Keyboard



Feb. 18, 1936. T v 5 2,031,017

I KEYBOARD Original Filed Decj. 18, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY INVENTOR.

Feb. 18, 1936. v 5 2,031,017

KEYBOARD Originai Filed Dec. 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I u IN V EN TOR. Ralf/PT 72w Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,031,017 KEYBOARD Robert Tevis, New York, N. Y.

Application December 18, 1931, Serial No. 581,830 Renewed May'13, 1935 7 Claims. (01. 197- 11) The keyboards of such machines have heretofore had a key for each letter of the alphabet and a number of additional keys for numerals; punctuation marks and various symbols. In some of these keyboards, shift keys are provided whereby the same key may be used for a capital letter or for a lower case letter, or for two or more symbols. However, in all such keyboards the number of keys exceed manyfold the number of the operator's fingers. As a result of this it requires long practice to acquire the art of striking the keys accurately without watching the keyboard, and even skilled operators occasionally make errors due to the fact that their hands must shift from one position to the other to reach the multiplicity of keys.

It.is an object of my invention to avoid the necessity of shifting the hands and to this end I provide a keyboard with only ten keys, one for each finger, and mechanism controlled thereby for composing or printing many times that number of characters.

Another object of the invention is to provide keyboard mechanism in which the composing or typing is controlled by the depression of keys in various combinations instead of individually.

Another object of the invention is to provide.

a keyboard with the keys arranged in the position that the fingers would naturally assume when the hands are rested on the keyboard;

with these objects in view and others which will appear hereinafter, I shall now describe a preferred embodiment and thereafter the novelty and scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a typewriter provided with my improved keyboard;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of a type bar and mechanism for operating the same; and

Fig. 3 is a diagram of electrical connections.

In Figure 1, I show a typewriter 9 having a keyboard provided with ten keys numbered H to 20 respectively. These keys instead of being arranged in a rectilinear row are preferably disposed in two' arcuate series located substantially in the positions that the finger tips of the operator would naturally assume when resting on the keyboard. By the term fingers I mean to include all the digits of the hand. It will be observed that the keys !5 and I6 are retracted to accommodate the thumbs of the operator. 7

The keys are normally held in raised position by resilient means but are capable of being depressed individually by the operator's fingers. Such resilient support of the keys is well-known in the art and needs no detafled illustration and description here.

As shown in Fig. 3, each key carries a block of insulation 2 I. These blocks carry positive and negative contact plates 22 and 23 respectively.

The contact plates 22 are connected in parallel to a line 24 running to the positive pole of a battery 25, the negative pole of the battery being grounded. The contact plates 23 are connected in parallel to a line 28 which is grounded. Below each key and'in position to engage the contact plate or plates carried thereby when the key is depressed, is a key group of nine contact points. Those points which are adapted to engage the positive plates 22 are indicated by the reference numeral 21 and those adapted to engage the negative plates 23 by the reference numeral 28. It will be observed that key ll carries a single contact plate which is a positive plate and when the key is depressed this plate engages the entire nine contact points thereunder. In other words, all of the contact points in the first group are positive and are indicated by the numeral 21. The key 12 carries two plates, a positive plate 22 and a negative plate 23. The positive plate is long enough to engage eight contact points 21, while the negative plate engages a singlewontact point 28. The positive plate of key l3 spans seven contact points 21, while the negative plate thereof spans two contact points 28. Thus pro-" ceeding from left to right the number of contacts 21 under each key progressively decreases and the number of contacts 28 progressively increases, the length of the plates 22 and 23 being correspondingly varied. The key 20 carries a negative plate 23 only which spans nine contact points 28.

Each contact point 21 is connected by a wire 29 to the positive terminal of a solenoid (indicated in general by the numeral 30), the negative terminal of which is connected by a wire 3| to a contact point 28. In each case, the contact points to which the wires 29 and 3| are connected belong in different key groups, so that the depression of a single key will not complete the circuit through any solenoid but the depression of any two keys will cause a corresponding one of the solenoids 30 to be energlzed. 'Ihus, if. keys H and 12 are depressed, current fromthe battery 25 will flow through solenoid 30a; depression of keys II and I3 will cause solenoid 30b to be energized, etc. It will be noted that with ten elements there are 45 possible combinations of two each. Hence by using ten keys, I provide a keyboard with a capacity equal to that of 45 keys in a standard typewriter.

The solenoids are adapted to actuate the type bars as in a standard electrically actuated machine. One way in which this mechanism may be constructed is shown in Fig. 2. A lever 32 is connected at its free end to the plunger 32a of the solenoid 30, the other end of thelever being pivoted at 33. A link 34 connects the lever 32 to one arm of a lever 35 pivated at 36. The other arm of the lever 35 is connected by a link 31 to a lateral projection 38 of a type bar 39. This type bar is pivoted at 40 and is provided at its free endwith types 4| and 42. When the solenoid 30 is energized by the depression of the proper combination of two keys the lever 32 is drawn downward and the lever 35 is oscillated clockwise. Thismotion is communicated through the link 31 to the type bar 39 which is thereby flung upward causing one or the other of the types 4| and '42 to strike the platen 43 or the paper carried thereby. The typewriter is provided with the usual mechanism for shifting the carriage 44 so that instead of printing the type 4! the type 42 will be printed or vice versa. This mechanism in the standard machine is controlled by a pair of shift keys. When one shift key is depressed the carriage is moved from normal position and lockedin the new position, while on the depression of the other key this look is released so that on release of the latter key the carriage may return automatically to its original position. The latter key is also used to shift the carriage without looking it. Since such mechanism is of standard construction, it requires no special description here. However, in my machine, instead of employing separate shift keys to control the shift lock and shift releases I use two of the key combinations for this purpose. For instance, keys l4 and I5, if depressed will actuate solenoid 30c and these may be employed to operate the normal shift and lock mechanism of the typewriter. Depression of the keys l9 and 20 will energize solenoid 30d and. this may be employed to unlock the shift mechanism permitting the carriage to return to normal.

In the drawings, I have shown a space bar 45 which may be operated in the usual manner to produce the spaces between words. However, such a space bar involves the removal of a thumb from the key l5 or the key l5 and since this 7 may be undesirable I may also use a combination of keys to operate the spacing mechanism, thereby avoiding the use of the space bar. For instance, the depression of keys l5 and IE will result in the energizing of solenoid 30c and this can be used to operate the usual spacing mechanism.

In standard electrical typewriters now on the until both keys of the pair controlling said mechanism are depressed. The various combinations are so chosen that simple words may be typed by holding one key in depressed position and then depressing other keys sequentially. For instance, if any one key is held in depressed position nine different combinations may be provided by depressing each of the other nine keys. This effects a saving of effort since one hand is at rest while the other is operating several keys to print the diiferent letters of the word. It will be observed, therefore, that I provide a machine in which the hands may always remain in the same position so that no errors can arise from shifting the hands from one position to another and the entire operation of typewriting except the insertion of the paper in the carriage and removal of. the paper therefrom may be effected by depressing the keys in various combinations.

While I have described this invention as adapted particularly for typewriters, it is obvious also that it may be employed for other keyboard machines, and the description given above should be taken as illustrative and not limitative of my invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a typewriter having a plurality of type bars, a solenoid for operating each type bar, an energizing circuit for each solenoid, two and only two switches disposed in series in each circuit and providing the only interruptions in said circuit, and a set of keys depressible to close the switches, each key controlling a plurality of the switches but the switches of each pair being controlled by difierent keys, whereby each type bar will be controlled by a characteristic combination of two keys.

2., In combination with a typewriter having a plurality of key-controlled mechanisms, a solenoid for operating each mechanism, an energizing circuit for each solenoid, a pair of switches disposed in series in each circuit and providing the only interruptions in said circuit, and a set of ten keys depressible to close the switches, each key controlling a plurality of the switches, but the switches of each pair being controlled by different keys whereby each of said mechanisms will be controlled by a characteristic combination of two keys.

3. In combination, a typewriter having a plurality of type bars, a solenoid for operating each type bar, an energizing. circuit for each solenoid, a primary switch and a secondary switch disposed in series in each circuit, and a set of keys depressible to close the switches, one of said keys controlling a primary switch but no secondary switches, another of said keys controlling secondary switches only, and the remaining keys of said set controlling both primary and secondary switches, the ratio of primary to secondary market, the return of the carriage to type a new bar will be controlled by a characteristic combiline and the turning of the platen to a. new line nation of two keys.

4. In combination, a typewriter having a pmrality of type bars, a solenoid for operating each type bar, an energizing circuit for each solenoid,

a primary switch and a secondary switch disposed in series in each circuit, and a set of keys depressible to close the switches, each of said keys controlling a number of switches less by one than the number of keys, one of the keys controlling primary switches only, and the other of the keys controlling secondary switches only, each of the remaining keys controlling both primary and secondary switches, the ratio of primary to secondary switches being different for each of said remaining keys, and the two switches of each circuit being controlled by different keys, whereby each t p bar will be controlled by a characteristic combination of two keys.

5. In a mechanism of the character described a plurality of solenoids, an energizing circuit for each solenoid, two and only two switches in each circuit, said switches being normally open, and a plurality of keys each operable to close a group of the switches, the two switches of each circuit being respectively in diflerent key groups whereby the energization of each solenoid is controlled individually and selectively by a predetermined combination of two of said keys.

6. In a mechanism of the character described solenoid to said lines respectively, and a set of keys depressible to close the switches, each key controlling a plurality of the switches but the two switches for each solenoid being controlled by different keys, whereby each solenoid will be controlled by a characteristic combination of two keys.

7. In combination, a typewriter having a plurality of type bars, a solenoid for operating each type bar, a pair of power lines for supplying the solenoids with electric energy, a pair of normally open switches for each solenoid, each pair being adapted to connect opposite terminals of each solenoid to said power lines respectively, and a set of keys depresslble to close the switches, each key controlling a plurality of the switches, but the switches of each pair being controlled by different keys, whereby each type bar will be controlled by a characteristic combination of two keys.

ROBERT TEVIS. 

